Historical and statistical soccer stories from all over the world, old and a bit older.

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Playing in the States, the early edition (Part Two)

Last week,
I already looked at foreign players that improved the level of play of the American
Soccer League (1921-1931). Today, it’s time for the second part. With lots of
Scottish and Hungarian players, and also some skilled Scandinavians and one single Dutchman.

The success
of the ASL can be compared to the NFL, the one with the nice outfits and the strange
ball. That league was also just starting to get big. It’s surprising to see
that attendances for soccer matches equalled the crowds of the NFL, and often even
surpassed them. It’s because of internal problems of the soccer league itself
and different American soccer associations, that Americans now consider
American Football as their national sport. It could easily have been the other
way around. Now, let’s continue with the countrywise index of foreign players
in the ASL.

Hungary

Jozsef Eisenhoffer

While hundreds
of Scottish soccer players entered the ASL, it’s the Hungarians that probably provide
the highest average quality. Attracted by the money, the good life and the lack of anti-semitism in the
United States, famous players like Laszlo Sternberg, Bela Guttman, Joszef
Eisenhoffer, Kalman Konrad and Gyorgy Molnar all got on board to cross the
ocean. The list below contains fifteen
players, most of them Jewish, just like the Austrians, and most of them also playing
for Brooklyn Wanderers, New York Giants and later Hakoah All-Stars.

Dutchman Gerrit
Visser played for Stormvogels in the Dutch league, from the city of IJmuiden. As an inside right he
played seven international matches, four of them during the Olympic Games in
Paris. Visser emigrated to the United States in 1925. Not to play soccer, but to start a new life.
Six months later, he appears as a stand-in for Bethlehem Steel’s top striker
Archie Stark, who is injured. After three matches (and four goals!) Stark
returns and Vissers playing days at the ASL are over.

(More about
Gerrit Visser in my next article, dealing with the first five Dutch soccer
players that went abroad. Visser was the very first)

Northern Ireland

Michael Hamill

Northern
Ireland also had a few players that were interested in playing in the ASL. For
example James Harry Chatton, who
played in Scotland for Partick Thistle. Then Idiana Flooring offered him a
contract. A year later Chatton (three
caps for Northern Ireland, three for the Republic of Ireland) moved to New York
Nationals. In total Chatton played 145 ASL-matches (1 goal). Coming back from
the States he played for Shelbourne, Dumbarton and Cork FC. Billy Pitt had five different clubs in
the ASL, among others Fall River, Bethlehem Steel and Pawtucket Rangers with
187 macthes (1 goal) to show for it. Striker Jimmy McAuley was a player at Ards FC, when he signed a contract
with Philadelphia Field Club. He soon changed to Fall River, with whom he
became ASL-champion in 1929 and 1930. In total, McAuley played 167 ASL-matches
and scored 49 goals. Whitey McDonald was born in Omagh, but
raised in Canada. He played four seasons at Bethlehem Steel. Then Scottish club
Glasgow Rangers toured Canada and the States and they offered McDonald a
contract. He stayed with Rangers for ten years and also collected two caps for
Northern Ireland. Michael Hamill was
already famous when he was signed by Fall River. He had been playing for
Manchester United, Celtic and Manchester City and earned seven caps for
Ireland. He played two seasons for Boston Wonder Workers (66 matches, one goal)
and one match for New York Giants, before rerturning to Europe in 1926. Already
37 years old, he still played another four seasons at Belfast Celtic. Willy Reid was a big name at Glentoran,
before being picked up by Bethlehem Steel. He played four seasons (86 matches)
for them, after that he went to Scotland, to play for Hearts of Midlothian, later
Dundalk and Distillery. He gained one cap for Northern Ireland in 1930.

Norway

The USA with Werner 'Scotty' Nilsen at the 1934World Cup

One of the
really big stars of the ASL hails from Norway. Werner ‘Scotty’ Nilsen moved to the United States in 1923. After
a few years at minor clubs, he was picked up by Boston Wonder Workers in 1926.
Nilsen hardly missed a match in three
years for the club, scoring 70 goals. His 43 goals in 1928-29 earned him the
Golden Boot, together with Hungarian Janos Nehadoma (Brooklyn Wanderers). A
year later he was ASL-champion with Fall River. In total Nilsen scored an
amazing 131 ASL-goals, placing him tenth in the all-time list of goalscorers.
Nilsen earned two caps for the United States, the second one during the 1934
World Cup, losing to Italy in the first round.

There was
also a Murphy Nilsen playing for
Boston Wonder Workers (8 matches, 0 goals) and Boston Bears (8 matches, 1
goal). As he was, just like Scotty, born in Skien, Norway, this must be Scotty’s
younger brother. Reidar Hoilund is
Norwegian number three, playing just a few matches for Indiana Flooring and
Boston Bears.

Republic of Ireland

Dave Carson

From the
Republic of Ireland-players that undertook an American soccer adventure, a few
pop out, first and foremost Bob Fullam. Forward Fullam started playing for
Shelbourne, before moving to Shamrock Rovers in 1921. One season later, in
1922-23 he was crowned top goalscorer of the league, with 27 goals. He even
earned his own catchphrase: ‘Give it to Bob’. His good performances got Leeds
United’s attention, but that adventure didn’t work out. Back at Shamrock Rovers
he was happy again. In 1927 Philadelphia Field Club was looking for new players in
the Irish Republic. Fullam was picked, but an ownership conflict shortened
his American league to just one season and only 5 matches (3 goals). Fullam’s
teammate at Shamrock Rovers, Dennis ‘Diny’ Doyle, stayed a bit longer; he went
from Philadelphia to Fall River and collected two championship medals. Season 1928-29
as a regular in the team, a season later just playing three matches,
after which he was transferred to Pawtucket Rangers. In five seasons Doyle
played 151 ASL-matches and scored one goal.

Larry
Kilroy, playing for Bray Unknowns, was another Irish player that was tempted to
play in the States by Philadelphia Field Club. Just like Fullam, he only stayed
one year, playing 9 matches (1 goal) for Philadelphia and 8 matches (no goals)
for Pawtucket Rangers.

Four years before
the mentioned three players, goalkeeper Dave Carson already crossed the ocean
to play for Bethlehem Steel. He did so at least until December 1925, when he
was performing so badly that he was replaced. To be fair, his first two seasons
at Bethlehem Steel were no less than great. After this last mishap, Carson still got
some playing time as a goalie at Springfield Babes and Bridgeport
Hungaria/Newark.

Scotland

Tommy Muirhead

Where would
the ASL have been without Scottish players? While other soccer countries
proudly point at five, maybe ten players that made a difference in the roaring
soccer twenties, Scotland easily has one hundred to show for, or even two hundred. Which
immediately makes it impossible to take a look at them all. So, I’ll just honor
a bunch of them. I will focus on Scottish players that already had a career in
Scotland before they came to the States, and on those that made a name for
themselves in the ASL, and were picked up by Scottish clubs to play in Europe. With
these criteria, al lot of Scottish players are scratched from my list as they already came to the United States as a child. Among them the perhaps best striker the
United States ever had, Glasgow born Archie Stark. Still - even with Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo trying their best - holder of the world record of 67 league goals in one season, and best ever goalscorer in the ASL.

Let’s start
off the list with Tommy Muirhead, captain of
Glasgow Rangers in 1924 and eight times Scottish international. Muirhead was
asked by Boston Wonder Workers to come to Boston as player-manager. And
although he only stayed for a year (homesick), it was proof that big Scottish
players could be tempted to play in the United States. That also had a
financial background: American clubs had higher wages, more than double from
what was normal in Scotland. Mostly the American companies that owned the
clubs, also provided good jobs for these players in their company. A year later Tommy Martin and Jimmy ‘Tec’
White form Motherwell were asked to join Fall River, and so were Charlie McGill (Third Lanark) en Bill McPherson (Beith). Together they
were the backbone of Fall River, who came to be ASL-champions in 1925/26,
1928/29 and 1929/30. Especially Jimmy ‘Tec’ White was exceptional, banging in
the goals (124 in 281 matches).

Record fee

Bill Harper

Long before
these five, Alexander Lorimer was
tempted to make the journey. Lorimer had played just one game for Kilmarnock in
1920/21, but played 311 ASL-matches (55 goals) for a ring of US clubs (Philadelphia
Field Club, Fall River, Shasheen Indians, New Bedford Whalers and Pawtucket
Rangers. Scottish international goalkeeper Bill
Harper (11 caps) spent five years at Hibernian (178 league matches), before
Arsenal paid a record fee for him in 1925. After more than two years as
Arsenals number one, Harper was dropped by manager Chapman. He got on a boat to
New York, and won the league title with Fall River in 1928/29. After stints
with Boston Bears, Boston Wonder Workers and New Bedford Whales, Harper returned
to Arsenal in 1930. While playing for
St. Mirren, Denis Lawson earned his
only Scottish cap in a match against England in 1923 (2-2). A few months later
he was contracted by Cardiff City where he played for three seasons. Then
Springfield Babes lured him to the States. In season 1926/27 he played 23
ASL-matches (2 goals) for Springfield and another 16 (1 goal) for Providence Clamdiggers,
before returning to England to play for Wigan Borough. Johnny Ballantyne played three seasons (86 league matches with 16
goals) for Partick Thistle before accepting an offer from Boston Wonder Workers
in 1924. With 146 matches and 50 goals he was an outstanding figure in the ASL.
After those four years he went back to Scotland and collected almost another 300
league matches for Partick, Falkirk and Queens Park Rangers, to retire at the
age of 36 years.

Four or twelve pound a week

One of the
most famous of all Scottish players that tried their luck in the United States,
is Alex McNab. Two times Scottish
international McNab was playing for Greenock Morton, when they offered him four
pound a week for the next season. McNab was disappointed and asked to be
transferred. Although Greenock wanted an absurd transfer fee, Boston Wonder
Workers made an offer. McNab could earn twelve pound a week in Boston, so he
accepted. He had a great time in the ASL, collecting two league titles with
Fall River and playing 283 ASL-matches scoring 61 goals. While his club
Clydebank was relegated after the 1921/22 season, Malcolm Goldie left Scotland for an American adventure. Starting
with Bethlehem Steel, with whom he won the ASL-title in 1926/27, moving to Fall
River (champion 1928/29) and finishing with Pawtucket Rangers an New Bedford
Whalers, Goldie collected 278 ASL-matches, scoring 63 goals.

Topscorer in Scotland

Barney Battles

The most
experienced Scottish player who came to the USA must have been Geordie Henderson. At 22 he
joined Glasgow Rangers, and in the next eight seasons he played 170 league-matches,
scoring no less than 123 goals and winning four Scottish titles along the way.
In 1927 he was first transferred to Darlington, but quickly swopped the English
Second Division for New York. With the New York Nationals he finished third in
the league, scoring 11 goals in 32 matches and winning the National Challenge
Cup. After just one year he returned to play another two years for Dundee
United. Johnny Jaap was born in
Scotland, but started his career in the USA. Especially with Bethlehem Steel he had
a great career in the ASL. Not always a regular in the team, but still managing to play 132 ASL-matches (48 goals). And he was crowned ASL-champion four times: three with
Bethlehem Steel, and the very first with Philadelphia Field Club. He also travelled to Scotland
to play for Hearts for just one season, 1930/31.

Before
ending the Scottish part of the article, I’ll have to mention Barney Battles.
Battles, born in 1905, emigrated to the United States when he was a teenager. There he started playing for the Boston Bears. At the age of 19, the Boston
Wonder Workers wanted him. He played there alongside Johnny Ballantyne, Alex McNab
en Tommy Muirhead. Three
years laterBattles left Boston Wonder Workers with a total 116 matches and 41 goals under
his belt. And with one cap for the United States, losing 1-0 to Canada in 1925. Battles
returned to Scotland, to play for Hearts. Expectations were high, but Battles
had no problems taking that challenge. He scored 31 goals in 28 league matches in his
first season. Two years later he did even better with 44 league goals, while scoring a hattrick three matches in a row in November 1930. Of course that made him leading goalscorer of the Scottish league that season.He also earned a
Scottish cap, scoring in a 1-1 draw against Wales. If it wasn’t for superstar
Hughie Gallagher, Battles would easily have earned ten or twenty caps.

Sweden

While the real
Swedish influence in the ASL was the work of just one man, there were others
that gave it their best shot. For example Eric
Larsson, playing for the New York Nationals and the New York Giants (in
total 28 matches and 9 goals). Or Nils
Nygren, who played just one fine year for Boston Wonder Workers (1928/29,
29 matches and 11 goals), Olof Johansson
(10 matches for New York Nationals) and Dicko
Magnusson, 14 matches and 1 goal in 1924/25 for Indiana Flooring . Thore Sundberg had two Swedish caps and
came from AIK Solna to Fall River. He played 38 matches in the ASL, scoring 2
goals. George Gustafsson had three clubs in the States (Indiana Flooring,
Newark Skeeters and Boston Bears), but only played 24 matches in three seasons.

Second best
in the Swedish list is without a doubt Kaleb
Schylander. Seven times capped Schylander arrived from IFK Göteborg and spent four years playing for
Indiana Flooring (1924 until 1927), making 97 appearances and scoring 24 goals.

Herbert Carlson

And then
there was Herbert Karlsson, Swedens top striker and one of the first big names
in the ASL. Karlsson was a
lethal striker for IFK Göteborg and for his country. In 20 caps for Sweden he
scored no fewer than 19 goals. In 1919 he scored a hattrick against the
Netherlands and against Denmark, one year later at the Olympics in Antwerp he
helped Sweden trash Greece 9-0 by scoring five times. In 1922 Karlsson
emigrated to the United States (he wasn’t contracted by a club) and changed his
name into Carlson. After a year at New York Vikings, Indiana Flooring lured him
into the ASL. He had a great career and his 107 goals for Indiana Flooring, New
York Nationals and New York Giants still rank him 15th in the ASL all
time list of goalscorers.